Hasta La Ideas

Close your eyes and picture your dream setup. A sprawling desk with a nice wide monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, probably a hub for charging stuff, a pen-stand, coffee mug… did you also think of a nice ergonomic chair? Or maybe you want one of those standing desks. What about a modular organizer/whiteboard? Thought of everything? How about a lamp to illuminate your entire workspace? Most desk setups tend to leave the lamp out because we take lighting for granted… but chances are your office space or your WFH spot isn’t as efficiently lit as you want.

Designer: BenQ Lifestyle Design Center

Click Here to Buy Now: $139.

In all honesty, table lamps are sort of an afterthought – because you just assume your room’s sufficiently lit, until you realize your WFH setup is far from a window and you don’t get enough daylight, or the tubelight’s behind you and it casts your shadow on your desk, making it difficult to perform analog tasks, take notes, or read books/printouts. I’ll admit I’ve never heard of a Monitor Light before, but BenQ’s ScreenBar Plus really does a good job of being a pretty darn amazing workspace light (it’s also a product that was first invented by BenQ). Instead of occupying actual table space, the ScreenBar Plus sits on top of your monitor. Its universal clipping mechanism can attach to any monitor type, and the long strip of LEDs help illuminate your entire workspace efficiently, without casting any shadows or leaving any blind spots.

The way the lamp’s design is rather clever. Its optically asymmetric design casts light onto your desk without casting any light on your monitor. This way, it efficiently and consistently illuminates your space without creating any reflections or glare on your screen, something that cheaper knockoff versions of the ScreenBar Plus don’t manage to achieve. The lamp is powered via USB, so it doesn’t hog a socket in your multiplug panel, and can be controlled using a small desktop dial interface. The desktop dial occupies a fraction of your countertop space, and has a rotating knob to help you adjust the lamp’s brightness or its color temperature. If you don’t want to constantly have to fiddle with the knob, a light sensor located above the knob helps power the ScreenBar’s smart-dimming feature, allowing the LEDs to instantly regulate when you push the button, based on how bright your environment is.

Designed to work with all monitors (ranging between 1cm and 3cm in thickness), the BenQ ScreenBar Plus provides an elegant, space-saving, non-intrusive way to keep your workplace illuminated, whether you’re in your regular office or your home office.

Click Here to Buy Now: $139.